How To Survive When The Internet Breaks

Sometimes that series of tubes called “the Internet” gets clogged and you lose your connectivity.All too often, this means you can’t do your job and you’re stuck staring at a screen. But losing the internet doesn’t have to mean losing your productivity.

We’ve gathered 8 suggestions on how you can stay productive when the internet craps out on you.

Make a to-do list

Use this downtime to plan and get ahead when your internet's non-functional. Once you're back online, you have a prioritised plan to knock out tasks with ease.

Compose emails offline

Fire up TextEdit and write emails to people you know you need to contact. When you're back online, just copy and paste them into your email client.

Make some calls instead of emailing

Remember your phone? It's just as suitable for getting in touch with people. Make a call instead of sending an email this time.

Plan and look ahead

Use this downtime to evaluate your day and forecast the coming week. What can you be doing to get ahead and save some headaches down the road?

organise and clear your desk

Almost all of us could benefit from reorganising our desks. If you can identify with this picture, then we politely suggest that you take advantage of the downtime to clean, pare down, and organise.

Catch up with your offline reading list

If you use an offline reading list service like Instapaper or Pocket, you can catch up on any articles you've saved ahead of time without an internet connection.

Take the opportunity to back up your computer

A full computer backup takes time, but without the time suck of the internet lording over you, it's a perfect opportunity to protect your data. Check out our recent walthrough on how to do it here.

Absolutely have to stay online? Tether your computer

Maybe internet downtime isn't an option and you absolutely must get online. If your phone's data plan supports tethering, you can connect your computer to it and piggyback on your phone's data connection. Then you're back to work in no time.